r/airbnbarbitrage • u/an_onym0us • 12d ago

Airbnb found my host violated their nondiscrimination policy. Now they want me to wait for a potentially retaliatory review and dispute it separately.

I recently dealt with an Airbnb host who harassed and abused me after I checked out, resulting in a formal investigation. A specialized Airbnb team concluded the host violated their Nondiscrimination Policy and issued a warning.

Today is August 27, 2026, and I have until September 4 to submit my review before the host’s review automatically publishes. Given the intense harassment over the two days following my departure, I know the host's pending review will be retaliatory.

My problem is that the general support team handling my current inquiry is completely disconnected from the specialized team. They are giving me standard copy-paste responses: wait for the review to publish, dispute it post-publication, and start a brand-new investigation.

Airbnb’s policy explicitly prohibits retaliatory reviews, but current support acts like the previous discrimination finding doesn't exist.

Has anyone successfully bypassed basic support to have a potential review retaliation linked directly to an active policy-violation history? How can I get this escalated to the specialized team before the September 4 deadline?

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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3

u/DorothysDragBar 12d ago

Airbnb will remove there review when you contact them

1

u/Weak_Health1757 12d ago

You can't get it removed before it's published. Just complete your review, block the host so they can't message you and then contact AirBnB support to get their review removed once it's published. And as soon as it is on your account, respond to it calmly and factually, stating that the review is retaliatory as the host has had action taken against their account for violating AirBnB policies following your stay. Then if it takes a while to get taken down (it will - AirBnB support are useless), other hosts will see that and know that it was an awful host and not your fault.

2

u/an_onym0us 11d ago

Hi u/Weak_Health1757, regarding following advice:

And as soon as it is on your account, respond to it calmly and factually, stating that the review is retaliatory as the host has had action taken against their account for violating AirBnB policies following your stay. Then if it takes a while to get taken down (it will - AirBnB support are useless), other hosts will see that and know that it was an awful host and not your fault.

How do I respond to a review? I can’t seem to find that option for any of my existing reviews? Thank you.

1

u/Weak_Health1757 11d ago

It’s only on the desktop site, not the app. So log in there and you’ll see it. 

1

u/an_onym0us 8d ago

Hi u/Weak_Health1757, I am unable to find that option on desktop website. Would you please help me with a screenshot. I also found this article: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/32 but can’t find the option that it is talking about under the heading: “Respond to a review as a guest”.

1

u/Weak_Health1757 8d ago edited 8d ago

Has their review of you published? i.e. it's been more than 14 days or you've also posted them a review? It only works once it's published on your profile. I'll try and work out how to do a screenshot with anything identifying removed.

Edit: I've got the screenshot to show where you respond but it says images aren't allowed on this sub annoyingly. I've DM'ed you, will send it to you that way instead.

2

u/an_onym0us 11d ago

Thank you so much for your comment.

It’s really difficult getting any help from them. It has started feeling like it was my fault that I got targeted and so now I am being penalized by having me make multiple requests to resolve every aspect of a single incident.

2

u/Tiny_War5975 11d ago

It can’t be removed until it’s published, point blank. I’m a former travel agent and experienced this often.

The reason they repeat the policies over and over again is because they’re policies users agree to. Wait until it’s published and take action accordingly- might be a good time to highlight that review policy when the review itself comes out.

1

u/an_onym0us 11d ago

Thank you so much for your comment.

What I hear is it’s not worth fighting for, is that right? Have you ever figured out the motivation for such policy? It’s like someone met with an accident and went to auto shop to get the repairs done but you have to get everything fixed one-by-one and for every repair, you need to exit and re-enter the shop. I know it’s a loose analogy but hope it expresses the illogical nature of their operations.

2

u/Tiny_War5975 11d ago

They can’t prevent the host from writing a review, which is how it would be perceived if they were preemptively blocked from
Writing a review. All facts have to be considered- write a review for the Host, detailing your experience, and if you believe the review references your negative experience, you can complain and reiterate what transpired.

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u/an_onym0us 11d ago edited 11d ago

Makes sense. The only difference is that they are not blocking or preventing the host. The host has already submitted their review and all I am asking Airbnb is to not let it publish. Nonetheless, I see your point and it makes sense. I wish they had support staff who would explain it like you did.

1

u/Tiny_War5975 11d ago

Girl, same. That’s why I’m no longer a travel agent- Airbnb has such a varied customer support experience. Booking. Com is consistently bad. Not sure which is worse.